Appearance is OK but seen better from beers from brewery Rocs specialy in foaming but all in all good. Pours out with a yellow head up on a clear dark brown beer. Smell is candysweet full malted, hoppy and litle koreander. Taste is warming by alcohol, full malted( partly roast), candy-sugar and hops. Drinkability is great, nothing to stop you enjoying and every sip ends sweetbitter; isn't that nice for a christmas brew? Humm.

(330 ml capped bottle, bought at Borough Market, London.) Pours with a collossal head, beer is clear reddish brown but with an enormous amount of lumpy yeast floaties which are not dissolved in the beer when pouring, thus making the beer in the glass look rather unappetizing - you may actually feel the lumps when drinking. I normally prefer to pour the yeast in with most bottle conditioned beers (enhances the flavour IMO), even when the brewers tell me not to - but in this case it is definitely not to be recommended! Aroma is initially surprisingly mild and one-dimensional malty sweet, improves as the beer warms up - vinous notes with some toffee and oak appear. Flavour is caramelly, oaky and spicy, with a nice alcoholic warmth. Decent enough, if disregarding the lumps.

Pours nice and cloudy brown with a brownish head that is strong but not excessive. Smells malty and of spices. Taste is similar, with more emphasis on the malts. Detectable spices. Not too bitter. A little too fizzy, but easy to drink. Did not have a problem with the carbonation as others seem to. A high ABV limits drinkability.

Enjoyed this for my Birthday as it near Xmas. The beer overflowed like a geyser but the pour itself was no problem. The nose is spice and dark corners with the promise of friutcake. I liked the complexity married with a smoothness inherent in the finish. I also suggest cellaring a few bottles for the following Xmas.

Pretty much blew the bottlecap off. Pours an opaque chestnut brown with a light brown head. Chalky, malty nose with suggestions of dark berries and leafiness. Very malty and thick bodied, chalky and yeasty. Some suggestions of spice, but I don't think they really use any. Pretty enjoyable, but not my favorite Christmas-style offering.

A strong nutmeg beer, and cinammon and ginger and licorice and orange peel. Some malts and candy sugar to tone down Belgium spice. White foam. Basically syrupy. Some brandy alcohol. Three years of aging would add to the experience. Thanks Irondjinn for the sample.

A very lively beer. Jumped out of the bottle as soon as I cracked it. A deep red/brown color with some haze. Head is a light tan and diminishes relatively quickly. Aroma is slightly astringent and spicy. Flavor is a nice mix of spices, malt and hops ? a well balanced taste with character, but not overdone. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, creamy and lively.

Damn good. These Rocs all seem to have a similar sharp aroma, but the taste is world class.

Whoa, Caution, Contents Under Pressure!!! Granted that this spent the trip from the West Coast to the Eastern border of the Rockies in my trunk, but has been sitting in my fridge ever since. The moment I popped the cap off cinnamon speckled tan foam came shooting out like champagne, getting all over the keyboard and floor and myself. My first reaction? I put my mouth over the lip of the bottle to prevent it from spilling anywhere's else. The pressure was immense, the stuff started coming out of my nose! Still, from that bizarro sample alone I could tell this was good stuff.

Okay, so when I finally do get it in a glass, it's a deep burnt almond tone, cloudy with suspended particles, with a tall sticky tan head, which eventually lowers to a thick cap and leaves many traces of sticky lacing. On the aroma is rich caramel malt, toffee, orange zest, licorice, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisin, faint ginger, and then a deep brandy alcohol presence. Yet in the flavour it starts with an unmistakable butter/rum character, followed by orange peel, licorice and nutmeg, with even a bit of sweet chocolate nearing the finish. The mouthfeel is very light for a 9% abv, but has such an enticing creamy texture, very smooth, with the smallest of alcohol kicks on the aftertaste, like trying to strike a wet match. A very fine seasonal, I could definitely not drink this every day, but would love it on a regular basis when the weather is freezing outside near the Yule holidays.

I got this bottle from frink. Thanks! Almond skin brown pour with a surprisingly fully diminishing light brown head. It looks fairly still with the tons of small floaties not moving at all. Aroma is mostly big malt and spices, very chocolatey straightforward with mint, dark bread, and ripened dark fruits undertones (raisin, dates). Thick body could use a bit more carbonation. Palate is very sweet and not as balanced as others. I like the grassy hops from the grand cru and the regular seems far less candyish and spicy chocolate syrup like. Slightly cloying finish with a long spicy aftertaste (cloves, mint, pepper). I expected more frankly.

Sampled during a visit to the Taverne Du Château on Monday 12th April. Situated in Montignies-sur-Rocs, a lovely small village in Northern Hainaut close to the French Border, and also home to the Brasserie de lAbbaye des Rocs. The Taverne Du Château stocks a great range of the AdR beers and is one of the best places to sample them.

The fourth and last of the AdR beers that we sampled here was offered to us, presumably, by the owner of the Taverne Du Château. He realized that he had a Taverne full of beer geeks and knew that we were ordering our last beer of the afternoon before leaving. He had some excellent on-trade and bottle sales from our party of 30 for what was a quiet Easter Monday afternoon. So he offered a limited number of us a few cellared Abbaye des Rocs Spéciale Noëls that were definitely not on the Beer Menu and had been aging for around 8 years!!! A jolly nice chap he was, of course we just had to take him up on his very kind offer, and we didn't want to offend him after all!

Presentation: Another 750ml capped green glass bottle. Standard AdR presentation which includes a generic design for the main label, a gold edged simple crown shaped formed from 3 tall arched windows topped in the center arch with a red, white & gold coat of arms. This sits against a dark blue background. Sadly one of our party peeled the label off our bottle before I had chance to snap a picture of the bottle, such is the rarity of this one. The neck label has the same dark blue background, but unlike other AdR offerings that have pictures of the coat of arms and the name of the Brewery, this one simply states Spéciale Noël in gold lettering.

Appearance: Dark orange-amber body that was thick in character but which may have faded over the years. The bottle had a large track of yeast down it length indicating that this had been kept on its side for many years. As such, relatively little sediment emerged with the contents, the sediment appeared welded to the side of the bottle. The head formed easily, the inherent conditioning was still lively and assisted in forming a nice 3 deep off-white collared head that slowly collapsed to a rocky mass that laced well. Even after all these years this one looked bloody good.

Taste: Chewy at first, the bitterness has matured to become very smooth and it balances the large toasted malts about the fruity fulcrum with perfection. Big & bold but never brash, this is more like a Brandy than a beer. Incredible tastes that are almost beyond comprehension and description.

Mouthfeel: The extremely powerful Noël has a massive mouthfeel, incredibly large, all-consuming with a huge alcohol base that warms yet spices the mouth with vanilla soaked ginger and sponge cake. The infinitesimally small carbonation is like a lifeboat that keeps this powerful monster afloat at all times.

Drinkability: Powerful as it was, it was a very drinkable sipper that increased in quaffability as you got used to dissecting its complex character. Shared amongst several of our group, this was a warming ale that nevertheless has appeal and is far from overpowering.

Overall: It seems that later versions of the Abbaye des Rocs Spéciale Noël has gotten darker over the years and more heavily spiced. It was a real treat to have this older version that was most certainly more Tripel-based in character at one time it seems.

I cannot praise the welcome and service that we received at the Taverne Du Château in Montignies-sur-Rocs highly enough. And to have this special cellared treat before we left. Just Incredible! This was a fucking great beer to finish the afternoon with!! Most Impressive. The first time that I ever seen this offering from AdR, let alone tried it, and at 8 years old I can tell you that it was awesome. To think that I may never try this again.

If you see any aged versions of the Abbaye des Rocs Spéciale Noël do not hesitate to snap them up!

Smell: The nose was of both spicey cinnamon and dark, ripe fruuit cake.

Taste: Farily complex with fruity sweetness and subtle spice along the way. I found the taste to be much more mile than the nose might have suggested. A very warm and semi-sweet finish due to the high alc %

Mouthfeel: Very smooth and medium bodied. Warm and comforting...if that makes sense.

Drinkablilty: I really enjoyed this beer. Very good but i wouldn't want this one all too often. It has a time and a place.